Saturday, January 23, 2016

From Reader to Writer: How My Love of
Books Led Me to a Career as a Writer

by Dane Cobain

I’ve loved books for as long as I can
remember – my parents used to use them to keep me quiet in the back seat of the
car on long journeys, and they worked a treat. A lot of people can’t read while
travelling, but this early habit has led to me reading on the bus during my
commute to work, which is where I usually get the most reading done.

When I was about fifteen, I sold the
vast majority of my books on eBay, a decision I’ve since regretted – I’ve spent
the last five years trying to rebuild that collection, and I’m back up to about
1,000 books, which I’ve been working on reviewing for SocialBookshelves.com, my book
blog. I have about another 50 reviews to go before I’ve reviewed everything
I’ve ever read, although not all of the reviews have been posted.

And it was SocialBookshelves.com that
led, indirectly, to my publishing deal with Booktrope. As well as reviewing
books, I also interview a lot of other authors, and many of these came through
Allie Burke and Jesse James Freeman, two of the early members of the Booktrope
crew. Jesse asked if I could share that they were open for submissions, I said
I could go one better than that, and the rest is history.

For me, it’s important for writers to be
readers because you can learn so much about the craft just by seeing what other
people are doing and by learning from their mistakes, or by taking techniques
that they’ve used and improving upon them. They say that there’s no such thing
as an original idea anymore and that execution is the key – I don’t necessarily
agree with that, but I do think that literature is a melting pot, and that it’s
your job as a writer to take what’s already out there and to improve upon it.

I’ll always be a reader first and
foremost; after all, as a writer, I write books that I’d want to read myself,
and that’s how I make sure that I don’t just descend into self-indulgence. It’s
a strategy that seems to work, at least so far, and I’m still keeping up my
book blog because even after being published, it’s one of the greatest assets
that I have from a marketing point of view. Plus, it’s a lot of fun to read and
to write about the books that you love.

That’s why, when Clarisse was interested
in hosting a guest post, I thought it would be fun to write about reading – two
of my lifelong loves, coming together. It’s been a lot of fun – thanks for
having me, and if you’re a keen reader yourself then be sure to check out No Rest for the Wicked. I’ll see
you soon!